People v. Dudley

Defendant Dudley was convicted, after trial by jury, of first degree murder for the killing of Alberta Mary Vella in 1949, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Prior to the trial, defendant and his wife had been convicted in Virginia of second degree murder for the death of their daughter, Carol Ann, by starvation and beatings. In April, 1961, following their arrest in Virginia for Carol Ann’s death, defendant’s wife gave the Virginia police a statement to the effect that she saw her husband kill a woman in Onondaga County, New York, in September or October, 1949. Dudley was shown his wife’s…